


Do You Want To Build A Snowman?

by Joking611



Series: Cari'ssi'mi Drabbles [38]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 10:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9176509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joking611/pseuds/Joking611
Summary: Shepard introduces Liara to Winter.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For the 14 Jan 2017 Mass Effect Fanfiction Writers FB Drabble Challenge
> 
> Prompt: Winter!  
> Characters: Shepard + their LI or their best friend!

“What’s your favorite season?”

The question had been innocuous enough. Shepard had been fidgeting across from her, waiting to be noticed. Apparently her bondmate could wait no longer, finally succumbing to Liara’s feigned inattention.

“Spring.” The answer was whispered, accommodating the acolytes studying in the library around them.

“How come?” This question also spoken in a normal tone, the commander leaning forward into the chair she’d spun around before straddling it.

A few acolytes had looked up at that, distracted from their research of Benezia’s writings. Each detractory look met by a corresponding glower from their patron. Few of the disciples of Benezia had embraced Shepard to the degree of the rest of the family, even years after the matriarch’s death.

“Janiris.” It was the first thing that sprang to the maiden’s mind. “Mother used to host the most elaborate celebrations. There would be guests from all over the planet.” She considered for a moment. “And springtime in general, I suppose. The smells of new planting, the blooming of flowers. The countryside is awash in new life." Liara’s turned the page in the tome before her, the scientist’s attention still not focused on the commander.

“Is Spring the only season you like?” Shepard’s voice had taken on the wheedling tone that told the Asari that Shepard was attempting to lead her somewhere. “What about Winter? Didn’t Benezia ever let you play in the snow?”

Liara gently closed her book, and removed the special gloves she’d been using to handle it. Obviously Shepard was not to be denied. “It does not snow in Armali, Shepard. As you yourself have learned. I seem to recall that most of your ‘urgent, off-planet business’ seems to arise during Armali’s rainy season.”

Shepard looked away. Liara was grateful that although her beautiful bondmate was many things, she was an absolutely terrible liar. “You never know when the Council is going to call on a spectre. You know that.”

“Really.” Liara carefully put just the right amount of scoff into her voice. “You have a unique position, Commander,” the maiden stressed the rank that Shepard had refused to allow herself to be promoted from. “Tevos would no more choose to put a member of House T’Soni at risk than she would go into battle herself.”

“Don’t forget, she actually did…”

“Irrelevant,” Liara waved Shepard’s outburst to silence. “That was a unique circumstance, and you know it.” She paused, waiting to see if Shepard would interrupt her again before continuing. “And Kaidan? He’s still in awe of you. Has he ever assigned you a mission since he became Counselor?”

“Well no, but…”

“Exactly. You take the missions you want, when you want them. In fact, you usually define your missions.”

“I do have access to more intelligence than most, thanks to a certain information broker in our mutual acquaintance.”

Liara rolled her eyes. “Your last ‘urgent mission’ was to deliver a shipment of ryncol to Tuchanka.”

“That was urgent,” Shepard protested. “Wrex needs all the help we can give him in keeping the clans happy. We wouldn’t want some Krogan warlord taking his place, do we?”

“And the ‘vigorous negotiations’ with said clan leaders?”

“Were all that prevented civil war on Tuchanka!”

Liara put her fingers to the bridge of her nose, wondering how one hundred and fifteen years of learning patience had so poorly prepared her for her bondmate’s shenanigans. “I have vids, Shepard.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, ‘oh’. Information broker, remember?”

“Well, there wasn’t a civil war,” the commander offered hopefully.

An acolyte at the far end of the table closed the book she was reading and walked away, shaking her head.

“In response to your question Shepard, no Benezia never took me to play in the snow.”

Shepard brightened. “Would you like to?”

“I do not like the cold, Shepard. You know that.” Armali’s subtropical climate had never required Liara to gain a tolerance for cold weather, and her personal preferences had made such acclimation even less likely.

Shepard carried on as if Liara’s disclosure were immaterial. Well, Liara had to admit to herself, as far as Shepard was concerned it probably was. “Hackett wants me to come to Earth for the dedication of something-or-other.”

“The University of Cipritine at Vancouver.”

Shepard gave her an annoyed look. “You already knew.”

“Information broker.”

“Anyway…” Shepard continued, “I thought we could get there a few days early, maybe rent a cabin?”

“A sleeping compartment aboard a ship?”

Shepard sighed. “I have to get back to studying Attena. I hate machine translation,” she muttered under her breath. “No, it’s a term for a rustic dwelling, usually in a remote area.”

“I… see. And what are your plans when we’re in this area?”

“You’ll have to wait to find out!”

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

Liara’s nose was cold. Her eyes were cold. Her whole face was cold, that being the only part of her body exposed from under the massive comforter.

Shepard had leapt from the bed as if set on fire. She’d hurriedly dressed, then covered herself in an outerwear that she’d called a ‘snowsuit’. The fact that Shepard had seen need to pack such a monstrosity should have been enough to warn the maiden. “I’ll be back,” she called, a cheerful lilt to her voice.

“Back? Just where are you going, Shepard?”

“Just for a quick run, some exercise.”

“In the snow?”

“There isn’t a cloud in the sky, it’s beautiful out! How can you want to stay indoors on a day like this. You should come with!”

The maiden had just glared in return.

“OK, OK. I won’t be gone long. Will you be all right?”

“Unless I freeze to death.”

“It’s not that bad, sweetheart, honest. It’s at least 2 or 3 degrees in here. If you get up you’ll feel warmer.”

Liara just curled tighter into a ball.

Shepard chuckled. “I’ll see you in a few.” She leaned down and kissed the Asari before leaving both the bedroom, and the cabin.

Liara had pulled the comforter all the way up to her crest, lamenting the loss of her bondmate’s body heat, her opinion being that was currently the woman’s only redeeming quality.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

Liara had fallen back to sleep, no doubt her body’s desperate attempt to preserve her life. She was awakened by an odd sound from outside.

Thunk, thunk, thunk.

Deciding she should investigate, she slid one leg out from under the comforter.

Her leg back under the comforter, she wondered if there was any way to identify the source of the noise without going outside.

“Shepard?” she called. No reply.

She shouldn’t be at risk here, she remembered. They were remote, to be sure, but also not unmonitored. She had commandos in orbit, and the Alliance would never allow something to happen to Shepard, especially not while the commander was on Earth. Even without depending on others, they were fewer than twenty kilometers from Lake Louise, and civilization.

Thunk, thunk, thunk.

The sound didn’t seem to be getting closer, but was also loud enough to travel a reasonable distance. If it were a threat, Shepard would have investigated, the reassured herself. She glanced at the nightstand and her pistol anyway. She would be a very embarrassed Shadow Broker if she were killed while cowering under a comforter.

She jerked in surprise when the cabin’s front door crashed open, and Shepard came into the cabin. She appeared in the bedroom doorway carrying what appeared to be… pieces of tree.

“You’re still in bed?” The commander’s smile lit her face so that Liara had difficulty not returning the expression. She managed.

“And you are not, all logic to the contrary.” Her shivering blunted the impact of her annoyance.

“I decided I wanted to warm up the cabin.” Shepard proceeded to drop the wood into a box that appeared placed for that purpose.

“With sticks?”

“Firewood,” replied the human while opening an odd contraption in the corner of the room.

“You’re going to set a fire inside the cabin?”

“It’s a stove, Liara. It heats the cabin by burning wood.” Shepard started filling the stove with wood.

“You mean that the cabin had no heat at all?”

“Well, it had us.” Shepard ignited the logs.

“A heat source that you will find remarkably lacking in the future.”

“It’s going to warm up pretty quick, I promise.”

“Not as much as you think, Shepard.”

“Ah, but I have another surprise. Give me a few minutes while I light the other stove and make a little something for you.”

Liara watched Shepard walk away, a typically enticing view obstructed by the commander’s bulky clothing.

A few minutes later Liara realized that her bondmate had been right. The room gradually grew warmer, and the Asari started squeezing the tips of her crest, waiting for full feeling to return.

She was almost ready to check on Shepard’s whereabouts when the Human reappeared, holding a steaming oversized mug.

“Tea, Shepard?” Without the shivering, the full weight of her ire was apparent to the commander.

Shepard climbed onto the bed with a smile, obviously unaware to how close she was to being warped into a wall. “Not tea.” She handed Liara the mug. “Give it a try.”

The maiden looked into the mug with trepidation. “It looks thick.”

“Just try it.”

She slowly brought the mug to her lips and took a sip. Her eyes widened, and she took another.

“This is incredible, Shepard.”

“It’s called hot cocoa.”

“And why am I just hearing about this?”

“Because there’s a tradition to cocoa. To gain its full effect you have to be in bed, in front of a fireplace, and snowed in.”

“We are not snowed in Shepard.”

“There’s still time. We’ve got three more days and plenty of cocoa.”

Liara took another sip, each mouthful lessening her desire to kill her bondmate.

“So, forgiven?” Shepard had removed her outerwear and was getting back under the covers.

“Forgiven,” she kissed her bondmate, relishing the taste of Shepard and chocolate on her lips. “Are there any other ‘traditions’ I need to be aware of?”

“Well… do you want to build a snowman?”

“No.”


End file.
